Imelda Staunton in Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre London

 

Gypsy, starring Imelda Staunton will transfer to the Savoy Theatre . The show opens on the 28th March and is currently booking until July 2015.

Along with Imelda, Lara Pulver and Kevin Whately are also expected to reprise their roles as Louise and Herbie in Jonathan Kent’s version of Athur Laurent’s classic musical.

The Chichester Festival theatre production received so many rave reviews that people have been practically begging for the show to come to London, breaking a 42 year absence from the West End stage.

Gypsy is the tale of a stage mom, Momma Rose, who will go to any lengths to showcase her daughters’ talents, especially her seemingly favourite child, Baby June. Constantly choreographing routines for Baby June to showcase her talents, Momma Rose as desperate for her kids, and the children she takes in as part of her act, to hit the big time as she is for them to stay young.

Rose is tested as her children grow into young women who wish to branch out on their own. Meanwhile, Rose’s long suffering partner, Herbie, is pushed to the limited by her obsessive need for her children to become stars.

Choreographed by Stephen Mear and with big designs by Anthony Ward, this production of Gypsy is one of the best yet!

Chichester has a glowing history of West End transfers, with many shows each year coming from the Festival Theatre. Recent transfers include Singin’ In The Rain, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Barnum, The Pajama Game and Sweeney Todd, which was also directed by Gypsy director Jonathan Kent and starred Imelda Staunton, who won an Olivier for her role as Mrs Lovett.

Background of Gypsy the Musical

A musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee was a project of producer David Merrick and actress Ethel Merman. Merrick had read a chapter of Lee’s memoirs in Harper’s Magazine and approached Lee to obtain the rights. Jerome Robbins was interested, and wanted Leland Hayward as co-producer; Merman also wanted Hayward to produce her next show. Merrick and Hayward approached Arthur Laurents to write the book. As he relates, Laurents initially was not interested until he saw that the story was one of parents living their children’s lives. Composers Irving Berlin and Cole Porter declined the project. Finally, Robbins asked Stephen Sondheim, who agreed to do it. Sondheim had worked with Robbins and Laurents on the musical West Side Story. However, Merman did not want an unknown composer, and wanted Jule Styne to write the music. Although Sondheim initially refused to write only the lyrics, he was persuaded by Oscar Hammerstein to accept the job.